Pilot

  Chapter 35

  Once the cargo had been sent off to the repackaging center what looked to Elena to be a fleet of vehicles arrived. At the head of the train was the black sedan driven by Thomas. The following vehicles were less glossy and the various crewmembers, after being dismissed by their captains, piled in without hesitation. Each of them carried a bag of gear and Elena assumed they were being taken to their hotel. Anna and Maria stayed. Elena looked around and didn't see Marcus.

  "No Marcus?" she asked.

  "He will be meeting us in town. I figured you might not want to drive back alone."

  "Of course," Elena said. Andre gave a little wave to her as he followed Peter and Anna over to where Thomas waited. Elena waved back and led Maria and Alexandro to her car. The drive back to the city and the dinner at Enzo's that followed was filled with talk of family and long absent friends. Her RSVP to her cousin Nate's wedding pleased her grandfather, who now felt as though everything was once again right in the world. Maria rolled her eyes and quirked up the side of her mouth in a suppressed grin as Alexandro repeatedly ignored any possibility of bad feelings between Elena and Therese.

  "Some things don't change," she said to herself as she drove home after dropping Maria and her grandfather off at their hotel. She tucked her car back into its accustomed place in the garage and walked around to the front of her building. She passed a couple of men who looked to be from the military base as she headed towards the door. She tensed and sidled by them, keeping them in sight and out of grabbing distance. One looked at her with an innocently surprised look and the other looked at her like she was crazy. They went their own way and Elena pulled open the door to her building just as Jonathan was walking down the stairs.

  "Hello," he said flashing a smile. "I stopped by since I was in the neighborhood to see if you wanted to catch a flick, but you weren't home."

  "Yes, I was out," she said. Her mind linked the two men outside with Jonathan inside and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "It is kind of late though and I have an early meeting."

  "Oh well," he said with a shrug. "Maybe next time." He strolled out of the door and Elena climbed the stairs. She went into her apartment, closed the door behind her and stood in the center of the living room looking at the things around her. Had he been inside with the other men standing watch?

  The corner of her living room throw rug was flipped up. Had she done that when she had removed her satchel of maps or had someone else been searching? She slowly walked through her apartment questioning every detail. Was that book where she left it or had it been moved? She stopped in the kitchen and looked at the small lamp that sat on her kitchen table.

  Dusting had never been one of her big priorities. She remembered to do it when company was coming, but only sporadically at other times. Lately she had been too busy to have company and there was a light layer of dust around the edges of the part of the kitchen table she didn't use much. Not a heavy layer, but enough so that she could see the dark crescent of clean wood at the edge of the lamp base where the lamp had been shifted. Spin, the kitten mewed from the bathroom where Elena locked her after dropping her off.

  'I could have knocked it a little earlier,' she thought without any real conviction. She reached out and picked up the lamp. Elena turned it over and was not surprised to see a little metallic dot attached to the bottom of the base. She left the dot in place and set the lamp back down. It made sense to bug her kitchen since it was in the center of the apartment and she often talked to herself while she cooked or ate.

  Elena let Spin out of the bathroom. The cat walked delicately past Elena ignoring her presence. Elena tried not to think of where else the apartment might be bugged. After all there was no practical point to bugging her bedroom or shower. Was there? Elena shook the thought away and prepared for bed. At the moment there was nothing she could do about the bugs. She could get rid of the one in the kitchen of course, but there was no telling if that was the only one. Elena frowned as she pulled back the covers. She didn't really care for being spied on.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw the leather journal she had been keeping on her dreams. She slid into bed and pulled the volume over. Elena flipped through the pages, wondering if Jonathan had done the same earlier. The journal was only a record of her dreams and wouldn't give them any tactical information or any true journal entries about her opinions of current events so she hadn't taken it to the Storm Chaser. She placed the book back on her nightstand as Spin climbed into bed and curled up on the spare pillow. Apparently Elena was to be forgiven for the bathroom imprisonment. The thought of Jonathan reading her dream journal made her very angry.

  "Dreams are supposed to be private," she muttered darkly as she curled up in bed. Her dreams were angry and unfocused that night and there was nothing useful she could add to the journal the next morning. She arrived at the store the next morning as Susan, the manager was beginning the process of opening.

  "I still can't get used to that," Elena told her with a smile as she walked in. Elena liked that she could count on having Susan take care of the day to day operations, but still found herself missing having the store to herself for those few moments of the morning.

  "Ready for your big meeting?" Susan asked.

  "As ready as ever," Elena replied.

  "So far everything looks great."

  "You think?"

  "Oh yeah," Susan confirmed. "The outside looks fabulous and the early buzz you've got going has really gotten people interested. We get at least ten people asking about it every day. The opening is going to be a huge hit. I just know it."

  "Thanks," Elena said. The phone rang and Elena picked it up.

  "Calabrese Imports," she said in her best cheery voice. That voice was never easy for her to do first thing in the morning.

  "Hi this is Steve, Emily's husband. Is this Elena?"

  "It is. Good morning. I hope everything is alright." Elena quickly did the math in her head. Emily's due date was still three weeks away, but the baby could have come early.

  "Everything is fine, Emily is just a bit under the weather today." Elena smiled. Emily had developed a bit of a guilt complex about taking time off when she knew she would be taking maternity leave soon.

  "You tell her to go ahead and take a sick day," Elena said. "We'll be able to manage." In truth, Emily rarely took sick days and really only took time off for doctor's visits no matter how lousy she felt. Elena soothed Steve's conscious and hung up the phone.

  "Emily sick?" Susan asked.

  "Yeah, she is going to take the day off. If things get hairy give me a ring on the cell and I'll be down to lend a hand when the meeting is through."

  "We'll get by," Susan said. The bell over the door rang and Elena saw her grandfather walk in while Marcus drove off down the street. No sooner than he had pulled away from the curb than Thomas glided into his place and Peter stepped out of the vehicle.

  "Hey, hey the gangs all here," she muttered. "Good morning," she said in a louder voice. "If you'll just let me get my papers we can go on up." Elena went back to the office and grabbed the information she had put together for this meeting. Andre would be pulling the drawings together. She just had to concentrate on everything else. Elena led the two men up to the conference room and was delighted by the smell of a pot of fresh coffee. Andre was stacking the designs in different groups on the table as they entered.

  "Thanks for making coffee," Elena said.

  "No problem," he replied with a smile. Elena poured out the cups and everyone settled.

  "Why don't we start with the graphics since they are already laid out," Elena said. She indicated that Andre had the floor. Andre walked everyone through the different design layouts for each of the product lines. Each type had a couple of different versions. Elena had already seen them all and knew which ones she preferred. Slowly the options for each were whittled down until a final plan was chos
en. The same was done with potential web layouts and print advertisements. It took less time than Elena had planned. She had anticipated a lot more debate, but over all they were willing to defer to her on many of the options. It was a distinctly odd experience.

  Once the design decisions were made, Andre gathered his materials and notes into a pile at the end of the table and sat down, ceding the floor to Elena. She passed out the information packets she had prepared and went over all of the little details needed for this venture from the meeting of FDA requirements to the grand opening planned for the Saturday before Valentine's Day. By the time she was finished both men looked impressed.

  "You two have done quite a bit of work," Alexandro said. "And it shows. I see no gaps or missing elements. I am satisfied. Peter?"

  "I am very satisfied as well. If one good thing has come out of Ian Jensen's betrayal of the Guild it is this," Peter said. Alexandro nodded and Elena took a sip of coffee, swallowing any comments she might have made. "Have you begun looking at staff?"

  "Yes, interviews were conducted last week and I believe we have some good people ready to step up. We have a great manager who can be trusted to run things fairly independently since I will be away much of the time. Andre is going to continue handling the marketing." Elena smiled at Andre.

  "He has also agreed to take on the task of marketing for Calabrese Imports as well which will be paid out of a separate fund. You can see the breakouts on the budget page. Not only is Andre very good at marketing, but it will look better publicly to consolidate these two aspects." Peter nodded.

  "I agree. It would look strange to have two separate marketing specialists for each of your businesses." The meeting concluded with everyone in a well-satisfied frame of mind. Elena watched Peter and Alexandro leave with a shake of her head.

  "Just business as usual," she said. Andre came to stand next to her at the window as the two sedans pulled up to pick up their charges.

  "Yup," Andre said. "Just a normal day wheeling and dealing with two of the most powerful council members." Elena glanced over at Andre.

  "Grandfather?" she asked.

  "Oh yeah," Andre said. Elena shook her head and waved his next comment to silence.

  "I think I'd rather not know." Andre lifted an eyebrow.

  "You sure?"

  "Yeah," Elena said with a sigh. "I know sooner or later I might have to know. But right now, I'd rather I didn't have to."

  "I understand," he said. "Peter was just my cousin before I heard the stories of Black Pete. I thought people were joking at first. I mean it was Peter." Elena almost asked if her grandfather's reputation was as bad as Peter's, but bit her lip instead. There was always time to find out about that later.

  "I suppose we better get the PDFs of those to the printer," Elena said indicating the stack of approved designs and firmly changing the subject.

  "I suppose we had better," Andre said, allowing the subject change.